Follow these simple tips if pot bunker shots fill you with fear and you often catch bunker shots fat or thin.

Pot bunkers represent one of golf’s great challenges. In this situation, your main aim is to get the ball out, but how do you create enough height on the shot to do that? Firstly, you need to open the clubface at address.

This will add loft but, importantly, it will also increase the bounce angle of your wedge. By using
the bounce you can aim to hit the sand behind the ball and find the contact you’re looking for.

Secondly, you need to be really aggressive. This might be a short shot, but you need clubhead speed to get the ball up.

Making a committed swing should be at the forefront of your mind. If you can do this, you might just escape with a par!

The crucial thing to focus on and think about is where the club is entering the sand. The club should go underneath the ball to get it rising quickly.

If you take no sand and strike the ball first, it will just smash into the face of the bunker, and then possibly roll back in one of your footprints. Visualise a spot in the sand just behind the ball and aim to strike there.

Often the position of the pin and the shape of the pot bunker will not enable you to play directly towards the flag.

Don’t get greedy. If playing 20 feet to the left of the pin will ensure you exit the bunker with one shot, take your medicine.

Also, look to utilise slopes on the green to feed the ball to the hole if you can’t play straight at it. Leaving the ball under the hole will give you the best chance of making the putt and saving your par.